Giving Compass' Take:

• Service Year Alliance is an organization that offers paid job opportunities for young people for a full year to understand the future workforce. 

• How will giving job opportunities as well as networking paths help build agency and confidence in America's future workforce? 

• Read about the innovative education trends that are happening to also prepare young people to develop skills for the future workforce. 

Service Year Alliance (SYA), the national organization that aims to give young Americans a shot at advancing their careers by doing a year of paid, full-time service, is offering a new way for 100 young people working in participating organizations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco to take their professional development to the next level.

In 2017, Airbnb, LinkedIn, and Starbucks partnered with SYA for “Service Year 100” to give participants special incentives to boost their career trajectories and assist with their service challenges. That means access to hiring teams, speakers’ series, and local events at each of the companies, as well as extra perks. The 100 participants will be chosen from a larger pool of service workers who are already enrolled in a service year in one of the five Service Year 100 cities. The SYA takes on over 65,000 young workers annually either before, during, or after college.

The Airbnb experiences will focus on social impact and connect members to new neighborhoods through local nonprofits.

Each worker in both the new program and the traditional service year is paid for their work (usually between $12,530 to $25,060 for the year). That changes based on whether or not housing is provided, or if the position requires a professional degree or certification. Many positions also offer the opportunity to receive loan forbearance and an education award for students to use on future education or pay off student loans. Some even offer child care benefits.

There is no guarantee that they will be hired by any of the three partner companies, but having access to hiring teams will give them an advantage over someone applying without having completed the service year.

Read the full article about advancing the future workforce by Lydia Dishman at Fast Company